Part 7 (1/2)

Bodvar said, 'Listen to my words. I have fought in twelve pitched battles. Always I have been called fearless and have never given way to a berserker. It was I who encouraged King Hrolf to seek out King Adils in his home. We were met with deceit, but that was nothing compared to this foulness. My heart is now so gripped by these events that my eagerness to continue the fight has diminished. A short while ago, in the earlier clash, I was up against King Hjorvard. We were face to face, and neither of us threw insults at the other, although we exchanged blows for a time. He gave me a blow that I found heavy, while I, for my part, hacked off a hand and a foot. I landed another blow on his shoulder, slicing him down his side, for the length of his spine. His reaction was not even to sigh. It was as if he dozed for a time, and I thought him dead. Few men like him are to be found, for he fought afterward no less boldly than before, and I cannot say what it is that is driving him. a.s.sembled here against us are many men, rich and powerful, pouring in from all directions, so that there is no defence. I do not recognize Odin among them, although I strongly suspect that this foul and unfaithful son of the evil one will be hovering in the background and causing us harm.81 If someone would only point him out to me I would squeeze him like a detestable puny mouse. That vile, poisonous creature would be shamelessly treated if I could just get my hands on him. Who would not have bitterness in his heart if he saw his liege lord as ill treated as we now see ours.'

Hjalti answered, 'It is not possible to bend fate, nor can one stand against nature.' At this point they ceased their talk.

34. The Death of King Hrolf Kraki King Hrolf defended himself well, fighting resolutely and with more courage than has been told of any man. He was attacked relentlessly, and a select company of King Hjorvard's and Skuld's warriors formed a ring around him. Skuld now entered into the fray. She fiercely incited her rabble to attack King Hrolf because she saw that the champions were no longer close beside him. Bodvar Bjarki sorely grieved that he was unable to a.s.sist his lord. The other champions felt the same regret. All of them were now as willing to die with King Hrolf as they had been to live with him, when they were in the full vigour of their youth.

By now all of the king's bodyguard had fallen. Not one of them was left standing, and most of the champions were mortally wounded.

'And events turned out as expected,' said Master Galterus.82 'Human strength cannot withstand such fiendish power, unless the strength of G.o.d is employed against it. That alone stood between you and victory, King Hrolf,' said the Master; 'you had no knowledge of your Creator.'

Such a storm of enchantments now descended upon them that the champions began to fall, one across the other. King Hrolf managed to emerge from behind the s.h.i.+eld wall, but he was nearly dead from exhaustion. There is no need to draw out the tale. King Hrolf fell gloriously, together with all his champions. They made so much of a slaughter there that words alone are inadequate to describe it. King Hjorvard and all his army fell, save only a few s.h.i.+rkers who, together with Skuld, were still on their feet.

Skuld took all of King Hrolf's realm under her power, but she ruled poorly and for only a short time. Elk-Frodi set out to avenge his brother Bodvar Bjarki as he had promised to do. He was joined by King Thorir Hound's Foot, as is told in Elk-Frodi's tale. The brothers were supported by a strong contingent sent from the Swedish kingdom by Queen Yrsa, and men say that Vogg served as the commander. All of these forces sailed for Denmark, and Skuld was taken by surprise. They seized and held her in such a way that she was prevented from working any witchcraft. They killed all of her rabble and tortured her in different ways. The kingdoms returned to the rule of King Hrolf's daughters. When all this had been accomplished, everyone went home.

A burial mound was raised for King Hrolf, and the sword Skofnung was laid in the mound with him. A mound was raised for each of the champions, and they likewise were buried with their weapons.

And here ends the saga of King Hrolf Kraki and his champions.

Notes.

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki is an unusually rich cultural doc.u.ment. These notes are designed for the reader who wants additional information on sorcery and magic, the meaning of Old Norse terms and the relations.h.i.+p between Hrolf's Saga and other medieval Scandinavian and English texts treating related characters and events.

1. King Halfdan is known from several medieval sources. His name, meaning 'Half-Dane', corresponds to that of the Danish king Healfdene, who is mentioned in the Old English poem Bowulf as the son of an early king called Beowulf the Dane, who is not to be confused with the epic's hero, Beowulf. In the Latin Saga of the Skjoldungs Halfdan, identified as Frodi's son, is slain by his brother, Ingialldus (Old Norse Ingjaldr), who corresponds to the Old English Ingeld.

2. In Beowulf, Healfdene's unnamed daughter marries the Swedish king Onela, who corresponds to Ali in Old Norse tradition. Ali, though not mentioned in Hrolf's Saga, appears in other Scandinavian versions of these events.

3. The genealogy of Halfdan and his sons was also recorded by the thirteenth-century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus in his History of the Danes. Old English literature attributes three sons to Healfdene: Heorogar, Hrothgar and Halga. Hrothgar, the king in Beowulf, and Halga clearly correspond to the Old Norse Hroar and Helgi. Heorogar, however, is not mentioned in the Scandinavian sources.

4. Fosterage was the custom of having a child raised in another household in order to extend kins.h.i.+p bonds or to form political alliances.

5. The term karl denotes a freeman. Depending on usage, it can mean a freeholding farmer, similar to an English yeoman, as here in the instance of Vifil. Later in the saga the term is used to denote lower social cla.s.ses, particularly servants and poor farmers, unsuitable to marry into a king's family.

6. Vifill, meaning 'beetle', was a name commonly given to slaves or freedmen.

7. Old Norse jarhus means 'earth house' or 'underground house', i.e. some form of a dugout or perhaps originally a cave.

8. Volur (sibyls or seeresses) and visindamenn (soothsayers or wise men) were persons whose 'wisdom' or supernaturally obtained knowledge was derived from mastery of ancient lore, including songs, spells and incantations. Such people, especially women, often practised seir, a form of magic involving rituals and trances with many shamanistic elements. A characteristic of seir was that it allowed the pract.i.tioner to divine the future and to see into the hidden.

9. Galdramenn (sorcerers) were magicians and wizards. Galdr was a type of magic based on spells, whether spoken, sung or carved in runes. It was distinct from the more shamanistic seir, which involved ecstatic trances. These 'sorcerers' should be differentiated from the soothsayers (wise men) mentioned earlier.

10. Fylgjur (fetches) were usually conceived of as guardian spirits attached to individuals or families. They often appear in dreams or at the moment of death. Here they are more akin to the 'sendings' of later Icelandic folklore: malevolent spirits under the direct control of a master magician or sorcerer. They may be seen as shadows of the sorcerer himself.

11. Hrani, which means 'bl.u.s.terer', occasionally occurs as a personal name in thirteenth-century Iceland. It is also, as in chapter 26 of this saga, one of the many names used for the G.o.d Odin. Ham, meaning 'shape' or 'skin', can metaphorically be interpreted as 'frame of mind'.

12. A complex verse, meaning that the trunk of the tree, that is the father, has been taken away, leaving only limbs, that is the children.

13. Heid is a volva who will practise seir. Heid is also the name of the Sibyl in the Eddic poem Voluspa, 'The Sibyl's Prophecy'.

14. The seihjallr (trance platform) was a platform or scaffold, usually built of timber, on which the Sibyl would sit to perform her seir. The most complete description of a seir ceremony is found in The Saga of Eirik the Red, but it does not mention a seihjallr; instead, the Sibyl sits in the host's high seat.

15. The phrase is literally 'wolves among the wolves' (vargar me ulfum). Vargr (wolf) was a term applied to dangerous outlaws, who could be hunted down like wolves.

16. Hroar thus takes an English wife. In Beowulf, Hroar's equivalent Hrothgar is said to have married Wealhtheow, whose name suggests that she, like Ogn, was of foreign origin.

17. Translated here as 'lands', the word riki has the connotation of independent state or kingdom.

18. Old Norse olof is the feminine form of the common (masculine) personal name Olaf. Although not otherworldly, this warrior queen has some of the characteristics of the legendary s.h.i.+eld-maidens or Valkyries, supernatural female warriors mentioned in other Scandinavian sagas and poems.

19. Kurteisi (courtesy) was a thirteenth-century borrowing from Old French. The concept was originally foreign to Scandinavia.

20. The name Yrsa, unusual in medieval Norse narrative, may derive from Latin ursa (she-bear). Saxo gives her name as 'Vrsa'. In the Lejre Chronicle (c. 1170) she has the Latin name 'Ursula'. Although the name does not appear in Anglo-Saxon sources, many scholars change the text of Beowulf, line 62a, where the ma.n.u.script is defective, to read, 'I heard Yrse was Onela's queen.' The addition is based largely on Hrolf's Saga.

21. In The Saga of the Skjoldungs, Agnar's story is somewhat different. He is the son of Ingjald, hence a cousin (rather than son) to Hroar and half-brother (rather than cousin) to Hrok. He is later killed by Bjarki, a retainer of Hrolf, and the ring returns to Yrsa.

22. Concerning Hrolf, see the Introduction. Hrolf appears in Beowulf as Hrothulf who shares the Danish kingdom with Hrothgar.

23. In Beowulf Adils appears as Eadgils and is identified as the nephew of Onela (Ali), the husband of Healfdene's unnamed daughter. According to Snorri Sturluson's Saga of the Ynglings (Ynglinga Saga), Adils carried off Yrsa, the daughter of Olof. Helgi subsequently recaptured her from Adils, but she returned to Adils when the incest was revealed.

24. Yule, the pre-Christian winter feast later a.s.similated to Christmas, was an occasion for drinking bouts, swearing of oaths and general merrymaking. In Scandinavia the event is frequently a.s.sociated with supernatural encounters.

25. Elves (alfar) were supernatural beings a.s.sociated with the fertility G.o.ds. In Scandinavia they were often portrayed as human-sized, attractive beings with sometimes vindictive natures. The story here is reminiscent of late Icelandic folk traditions.

26. Berserkers (berserkir) are frequently mentioned in the sagas. Scholars disagree as to whether berserkers existed or were primarily a literary creation, and no consensus exists regarding the word's etymology. Berserkers are discussed in the Introduction.

27. The word fiolkyngi, here translated as 'sorcery', literally means 'very cunning' and also refers to 'the black arts' and 'witchcraft'. The word often had negative connotations, especially when contrasted with the more neutral galdr, even though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The author of Hrolf's Saga, a Christian writing for a Christian audience, tends to use such terms pejoratively.

28. Svipdag is elsewhere given as a name for Odin. In Hrolf's Saga many traits commonly a.s.sociated with Odin are attributed to Svipdag, although it is not clear that the author intended Svipdag to be positively identified with the G.o.d. It is possible that the underlying connection reflects an older form of the story.

29. One of the sons of the legendary warrior Ragnar Hairy-Breeches was also called Hvitserk, meaning 'White-s.h.i.+rt'.

30. This statement resembles advice given in the Eddic poem Havamal, 'The Sayings of the High One'.

31. These games were usually tests of strength, such as lifting compet.i.tions, single combat or tug-of-war.

32. The saga employs the word holmganga, one of several forms of single combat with strict rules. The term means 'island going' because a small delineated s.p.a.ce, often an island, was chosen as the site for such combats.

33. Old Norse herspori (war-spur) seems to be a kind of caltrop, a ball with four spikes protruding from it in such a way that no matter how it is dropped three spikes form a base while the fourth points upward.

34. Svipdag thus resembles Odin, who had only one eye, having sacrificed the other for wisdom and power. The attribute also connects Svipdag with the legendary Swedish king Svipdag the Blind from The Saga of the Ynglings.

35. Modern Lejre. See Introduction.

36. Hjorvard corresponds to Beowulf's Heoroweard, the son of Heorogar and Hrothulf's cousin. In Beowulf, Heoroweard had a strong claim to the throne, one cause for the enmity between him and Hrothulf. This element is lacking in the saga.

37. Uppdalir means inland, often highland, valleys. There are several places in Norway that this might refer to, among them a region near Trondheim and a region north of Oslo Fjord.